Effects of four types of integrated Chinese and Western medicines for the treatment of COVID-19 in China: a network meta-analysis

Abstract

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE Various integrated Chinese and Western medicines might be beneficial for the treatment of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of lung computed tomography (CT) of four integrated Chinese and Western medicines in the treatment of COVID-19 using network meta-analysis (NMA). METHODS Multiple databases were consulted to find randomized controlled trials of four different types of integrated Chinese and Western medicines for the treatment of COVID-19. NMA was conducted on the data using Stata (13.0) software. The odds ratio (OR) was calculated. The studies included in this paper were divided into a control group (Western medicine) and an observation group (one of four integrated Chinese and Western medicines). RESULTS 5 eligible publications were identified. A total of 598 cases were included in the study, and the results showed that the four types of integrated Chinese and Western medicines (symptomatic and supportive care with Qingfei Touxie Fuzheng, Lianhua Qingke, and Xuebijing) were significantly superior (P < 0.05) to symptomatic and supportive care alone, except for symptomatic and supportive care with Lianhua Qingwen. The combination of symptomatic and supportive care with Lianhua Qingke had the highest probability of being the most clinically efficacious intervention, with a surface under the cumulative ranking (SUCRA) curve of 85.7. CONCLUSIONS A combination of symptomatic and supportive care with Lianhua Qingke is the best option among the four integrated Chinese and Western medicines considered for the treatment of COVID-19.